Around the age of 30, Jesus Christ began his public ministry. He was baptized, then tempted in the wilderness, as recorded in the gospels. His first public teaching is recorded in Luke 4, when Jesus reads from Isaiah 61. Gus Harter studies this remarkable moment at which the man Jesus reveals Himself to his hometown friends and neighbors as the Messiah, the Christ sent to save and redeem Israel.
Isaiah 61 was well understood by the Jews of the day as a clear prophecy of the coming Messiah. None present failed to understand Jesus when, after reading the prophetic passage, He announced, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
The self-revelation of Christ was met with skepticism and hostility that day in Nazareth. But the truth of it was borne out in the days ahead as Jesus preached to the poor in spirit, restored a widow’s son from death, tamed the wild Gaderene, healed the blind and the lame, and lifted the spirits of the downcast. By His deeds we know that Jesus was truly the Messiah, and He did redeem His people.
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